Grey against the Dark
by Rico Perrien
Summary: This story is an adjunct to 'The Last Attempt to Save the Pureblood Family Lines' by raspberry dreams (used/stolen with permission). Some OC characters object to the new marriage law, and decide to do something about it.


**Grey against the dark**

**Or**

**Harry Potter isn't really involved in this one**

**Author's Note:** This story is an adjunct to _The Last Attempt to Save the Pureblood Family Lines _byraspberry dreams (used/stolen with permission). I have used the premise of her story and some of the technical details, but the plot, any bad puns and most of the characters are my own. It goes darker than her story. No house-elves were hurt in the writing of this story.

"When they're out to get you, paranoia's just straight thinking"

Dr. Johnny Fever

"When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging"

An old saying, sometimes attributed to Confucius

**Timeframe:** Hogwarts, November 1996 post Battle of the Department of Mysteries, post-LV (as per the story mentioned above). They haven't graduated yet. Quite AU.

**Warnings: **Language and character death. Recall this is fiction, and so any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Clan names were used without permission, purely for historical reasons.

**Disclaimer:** I am not JKR, so don't expect donations to your private foundation for letting the good times roll. She and her buddies own lots of stuff, including all the rights to Hogwarts and some characters. OC characters are mine. I do not give the right to repost this story by anyone else, which seems to be an increasing problem with those who are too damned lazy to write or think up their own stories. Plagiarism is intellectual theft! A plague on your houses.

**Chapter 1: The Law **

In the year 1603, King James the first (of England) and the 6th (of Scotland) decreed that the name MacGregor was banned on pain of death. Although this ban was temporarily lifted under Charles the 2nd, it was reimposed under King William of Orange, and was still largely in place until 1774.

Having your very name designated a capital crime gave clan members a healthy skepticism and even distrust of those who felt they had a divine right to rule, due solely from their circumstances of birth. And Scots, both of the highlands and lowlands, have long memories. Almost nobody can hold a grudge like a Celt.

The day that Voldemort died started a very bad week for the pureblood aristocracy of Wizarding Great Britain. Although he was not killed directly by Harry Potter, it was due to his being extremely upset by his failure to successfully possess the young man, combined with appearance of Dumbledore and Fudge, blowing his carefully managed campaign for Fudge to deny his return to the land of the living. The fact that Potter was basically able to throw the Dark Lord out of his mind had terrified the man. Trying to apparate while terrified was not a very good idea, and Voldemort left half of his skull and brain in the hallway of the Ministry.

In his attempt to stay alive, Voldemort recalled that the author of the rare book about the Horcrux ritual was written by someone called Hieronymus Lockhart, who had the same knack for marketing and disregard for facts that his great-great grandson would later display. The author had gone on to sell a highly-alcoholic product 'Dr. Good's Snake Oil For All Ills' in the American west, and later inspire the sale of pet rocks. The truth was that Horcruxes didn't give immortality, but just extend the life of your body by ten years. Had Voldemort looked into his father's family history instead of just killing him in a fit of rage, he would have discovered that the bone he used for his resurrection had passed its 'Best-Before' date some twenty years before.

While still at the Ministry, and feeling her Lord's demise through her Dark Mark, Bellatrix Lestrange went completely berserk (which was not a long journey). She started throwing killing curses around, killing several aurors, but also seven of the Dark Lord's inner circle. After ignoring eight stunning spells in her fury, she was finally put down like the mad dog she was, with a cutting curse to the throat.

Back at Voldemort's encampment, one of his less-bright followers called out to his fellow Death Eaters that, with the Dark Lord dead, they didn't need to be nice to the giants they were supposed to be tending, and that they could kill the subhuman beasts. The giants, not being as stupid as the many humans tended to believe, decided that the Dark Lord's promises of land and property were now void, and in the interest of self-preservation proceeded to kill the thirty Death Eaters. This seriously decreased the number of the sons and daughters who were heirs of some of the members of the Wizengamot who had quietly supported the Dark Lord.

With many of their heirs gone (and typically having only one child given the pure pureblood lack of fertility), and a lot of their patrons gone as well, the old aristocracy (as they thought of themselves) realized that unless something was done rapidly, their hold on power was likely going to be short-lived.

'New evidence' was quickly discovered that indicated Lucius Malfoy had been (again) under the Imperious charm while he was fighting for the Dark Lord at the Battle in the Department of Mysteries. As such, Minister Fudge's main financial supporter was released and his status as a leading wizard was reinstated. Once this supply chain was restored, appropriate legislation could be assured.

The children of the dark families rejoiced at this news, declaring loudly that this meant that the 'natural order' was back in place.

However, between the funding of the Dark Lord, and donations and investments in research into Lucius' 'afflictions' (aka bribes), the bank accounts of the Malfoys were seriously depleted.

The morning of Friday November 1st, Headmaster Dumbledore stood to make his morning announcements. From the frown on his face, the students knew he had news that he was not happy with. In fact, he looked totally disgusted by what he was about to impart to the students. Before breakfast, he had held an emergency meeting with his staff to tell them of the latest potential disaster, and Minerva McGonagall had demanded he do something about it. He had shaken his head, and said, "The way Fudge and Malfoy described the re-instatement of the old law, most of the old fools saw only the benefits to themselves and their families. I tried to stop it, but they ignored any possible downsides. I tried to point out problems, but I was overruled by a large majority. I don't know how many were just from blind self-interest, or how many were bribed or threatened, but there it is. I ask all of you to help any students who have problems due to this nonsense.'" He could see a number of the staff, excluding Snape, nodding their heads in agreement.

When the Headmaster stood in the Great Hall, the room quieted down from the usual breakfast chatter.

Dumbledore nodded, and said "Yesterday, October 31st (Hallowe'en), a new law was passed in the Wizengamot re-instating an old act from the 1500s, requiring all unmarried half-blood and muggle-born witches and wizards between the ages of 16 and 60 to marry someone of the Ministry's choosing, within 6 months of the selection of their 'mate'. The choices would be made, it was announced, on the basis of magical compatibility. They, and any married couple of less than 60 years of age, would be required to have one child within 18 months, and another within 5 years. Anyone disobeying this law would be imprisoned in Azkaban for a period of three months, then matched and then married with a new partner, or the previously chosen one."

Harry Potter cringed. Bad things always happened to him on Hallowe'en.

All purebloods will be matched with half-bloods or muggle-bornes, as this will provide the best chance of procreation, and the pure-blood partner will have control over the subsequent family, both socially and financially. I gather that this is to prevent the increase of families who are exclusively half-blood wizards and witches. Any pureblood wizards will also have the option of a second pureblood wife, and only children from that union will be allowed to inherit the family name and titles. No pure-blood witch will be matched with muggle-bornes – the prevailing attitude in the Wizengamot was that they would not want to 'shame' her any more than having to marry a halfer.

"I understand that the selections of compatible partners will take place over the next week by a selected committee of the Wizengamot members, and that all of you who fall under the requirements of the law will be notified Tuesday the week after next, by a Ministry scroll – I must add at this time that that Monday will be Armistice Day so the Ministry will be closed that day. Hogwarts lost many of our alumni in wars, and we will be holding our own ceremonies here as well, for those who wish to attend on the school grounds. The weddings will commence the following Saturday."

"This is going to affect all of the 7th year students and many of the sixth years as well. I know that not all of you are happy with this situation, but I am told that destroying the Ministry document will be considered refusal to comply with the law, and will result in an immediate three month sentence to Azkaban, after which you would be forced to marry the designated spouse, and comply with the requirements for producing children. The Ministry scroll will also contain a timed portkey to be used the following weekend for you and your designated spouse to meet at the Ministry and to be married by a Ministry official – you may chose not to use the portkey and the 'free' marriage ceremony in the case you and your prospective spouse happen to already know each other, but you would still have to marry within the 6 months specified. I must point out that the portkey and any other charms on the documents, which the Ministry will used to ensure receipt and compliance, are to be done by Charms Master Rittenoff, who will also be conducting the marriage ceremonies."

"Any and all existing betrothal contracts, marriages and magical bonds will remain valid" he said. He did not mention that, for the most part, only pureblood families used betrothal contracts any more, and these were usually to maintain political alliances between the families of the aristocracy (the Ministry wouldn't want to disrupt those, now would they). "However, these must exist before any selection of partners by the Ministry under the law."

"It was declared that this law would be purely to preserve the wizarding world by repopulating it after the losses of the previous wars." He did not mention, or have to mention, that the losses were in large part due to the inactions of the Wizengamot.

"In light of this announcement, classes are cancelled for today, so that you can consult with your Heads of House, and advise your families of the impending nuptials. Have a good morning, and try to enjoy your breakfasts."

Again, the children of the aristocracy rejoiced, knowing full well that the choices of the Ministry could be manipulated, given the right 'donations' to the right cause, so that the aristocrats would remain in charge, and the uppity mudbloods and blood-traitors would be put back in their places.

The rest of the British wizarding world saw this for what it was. Those who had fought the last wars on the side of the light now recognized that Voldemort and Grindelwald had not been the real problems. They had only been symptoms of the long-term problem of bigotry, entrenched power and corruption.

The staff looked over the student body, and saw who among them were happy, and who were not. Minerva and several other professors noted that several of the students, notably those they knew to be part of the so-called SP study group, looked at each other and nodded. The 'Smarty-Pants' bunch were the brightest witches and wizards in the group who would be subject to the new law, and it was obvious to the observant few that meetings and much research were about to happen. This new situation was something up with which they were not going to put.*

The announcement of the new 'Emergency Marriage Act' lit the fire under a new revolt. This time, it was not the goblins who were going to revolt, to Binns' dismay.

This is a version of a phrase has been used as an example of how some overly pedantic people take the rule, of not ending a sentence with a preposition, to its logical conclusion.

Author's Note Yes, this is yet another Marriage Law fic. I can also strongly recommend the story mentioned at the top (where I got {stole with permission} a number of the ideas for this one), and

• The Obligatory Marriage Law Fic by Bobmin356 (story 4960536)

• The Obligatory Marriage Law Fic by Luan Mao (story 5802874) with an omake by Aealket

• Harry Potter's Reaction to the Marriage Law by kb0 (story 6049450)

• The Legacy Preservation Act by James Spookie (story 10649604)

• The Mandatory Marriage Contract Fic by Itsme66 (story 5695032)

• There's Always a Way by S'TarKan (story 2612901)

• Escape by SingularOddities (story 11916243)

**Chapter 2: The Meeting **

The Smarty-Pants study group had just sat down in the library, when Tracy Davis once again brought up her favourite topic.

"I think we should rebrand this club the SK group". As the group laughed, as they did every time Tracy made this demand (which was every time they met), her best friend Daphne Greengrass told her "Tracy, I keep telling you that Smarty-Knickers just doesn't roll off the tongue like Smarty-Pants!" Daphne knew that her friend's comment was, as always, meant to lighten the mood before starting the serious business

Tracy added, as she often did, "Well, Smarty-Pantaloons or Smarty-Pettipants doesn't either!"

As the group chuckled, Madam Pince the librarian came over and handed Hermione Granger two books. As the younger witch gave a puzzled look to the librarian, the older woman said "I was told you would be looking for these books, so I brought them over to save you some time. They were on the heavily restricted shelves (professors only), so it would have taken you a lot of fruitless searching." Her face indicated that she was not going to take anything but immediate acceptance.

Hermione nodded, and politely said, "Thank you, Madam Pince", before looking at the texts in her hands. One was titled "Bonding Rituals", and Hermione noticed a sheet of parchment folded into the pages. The other book was titled "Wizarding Law, and Other Fictions" .She unfolded the folded page and read "I would strongly advise that you and your acquaintances proceed to room where you and your defense study group practiced last year, and I think it would be useful to include that group in your efforts. I and some others are quite happy to assist, but your researches should not be allowed to fall onto the ears of the general stuDEnt body." It was signed only M.M.

Hermione showed the note to those sitting with her, and Megan MacGregor asked, "Why are the letters DE capitalized? And who is this MM?" A glance around the group had a light coming on in their heads, and Hermione stood up.

"All right, some of you know the room on the 7th floor. We will meet there in an hour. For the rest of you, stay and I will explain. See you later."

As most of the group departed in various directions, Hermione said quietly to the others, "There is a room upstairs that can become whatever we need. The elves call it the Come-And-Go Room, but we call it the Room of Requirement. It can be whatever you need, and right now, we need somewhere we can meet secretly. I'll take the first group up there right now, and then come back for the rest of you. You don't want to go in large easy-to-follow groups which might be too suspicious. Particularly for those who might have reason to be suspicious."

An hour later, a larger group gathered in the secret room.

Th members of the DA from the previous year looked puzzled (of course, Marietta Edgecombe had not been invited). Ginny Weasley asked "Why did you use the charmed galleons using the emergency signal? What is so important?"

At that point, a knock came on the door. As the door had disappeared, and then suddenly reappeared, wands were drawn by the DA members, who had been taught to deal with unexpected attacks. Hermione went to the door, and asked in a sing-song voice "Who is it?"

She heard Professor McGonagall's voice saying, "Please let us in Miss Granger. And be quick about it!"

Opening the door, McGonagall, Professor Flitwick and Professor Babbling entered, and McGonagall turned quickly and closed the door, which promptly disappeared.

The Deputy Headmistress turned to address the group. "You who were in the defense group last year were taking on only a witch who was a spy and a bigoted fool. This time, you are taking on the entire Ministry, or rather the Wizengamot. They make that laws, and they make them for feather their own nests, first, last and always. What I, or rather we (indicating the other staff members) suspect you will be trying to do could be construed as treason. As such, Azkaban would be the least of your worries."

"It has been brought to my attention, to my everlasting regret, that what I told the muggle-born witches and wizards, that their futures would be glorious, has been made a lie by the ones in power. The way things are, you would never be able to rise to prominence in our society. I strongly resent that they have put me in that position, and I apologize deeply to you all."

"Further, the faction you are likely fighting are exactly those that the DA was formed to counter. They are the ones who are most displeased with your success last year, and want to neutralize any and all opposition. They want to hold onto their power and their privileges, and they won't care who they hurt doing it. They didn't fight Voldemort, because his program suited their agenda, or so they thought. They did not realize that dictators like him don't share power, and that he and his Death Eaters were killing as many purebloods as others, but those are issues for another day. Harry Potter and his friends are a direct threat to them and their privileged positions, and this Marriage law is just another way to divide and conquer."

"We, the staff of Hogwarts or at least some of us, want to help and I suspect you will need our assistance."

The group of students were stunned by McGonagall's statements. The SP members who had not been in the DA were puzzled, but the DA membership nodded thoughtfully. Harry Potter and Hermione Granger walked over to the professors and thanked them.

Bathsheba Babbling smiled at the students and added, "I have to admit to a personal interest in this. I too am subject to this unfair and despicable law. I am currently also considering my options, good and bad. I am not particularly keen on giving up teaching to be the sex slave of some would-be terrorist, who wants his wife barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen supervising house elves."

Luna Lovegood raised her hand. The DA members all smiled at the blonde witch's 'request' for attention, and Hermione nodded towards her. "Yes Luna?" she asked fondly.

Luna asked "Are you going to want us to sign a secrecy pledge? If so, I don't think that would be adequate protection. From what the Professor said, we are in much greater danger than last year with Umbridge torturing us. Having facial disfigurements, like Marietta Edgecombe got for telling, won't save us from prison, although sitting in a cell for years with boils all over your face would be awful. I think an oath on our magic and lives would be more appropriate."

Ginny Weasley brought an obvious problem. "If we come up with some sort of ritual or something to get around the law, how would we talk to our potential mates or whatever, if we have signed a pledge or spoke and oath or whatever? Unless the people in this room are the only ones we would be able to marry, we would have to be able to talk about it to others."

Harry said "Well, if it comes to that, we have a good idea of who a lot of the Death Eaters are or were. We could make the oath specific to exclude them and their families. Unfortunately, we don't really know all of them, or who their sympathizers are."

Ginny nodded. "After the fight at the Ministry, the six of us who went have a pretty good idea of who not to talk to, and we have spoken to the rest of the DA and we can tell the others in this room. I know that after Marietta, a lot of us are obsessed with security, but we need to talk to other people, and when it comes down to it, we have only a week before the selections are made, and then they are going to come down on us like a ton of bricks. We can't use the featherlight charms on this one. So until then, we have some choices to make."

She then got a shocked look on her face, and she looked at her brother. "My god, the law means Mom and Dad need to have more kids too! Good thing we're the only ones at home any more – they wouldn't be able to afford nine kids!" Turning to the staff members, she asked, "What can you tell us about bonding rituals? Since you passed that book on to Hermione, I assume that there are some options we can consider."

Flitwick looked at his colleagues and then spoke. "There are a range of bonding rituals. One was used by ancient warriors, and is still a muggle ritual called the 'Brother Drink' – you drink together and swear an oath of loyalty. In the magic version, it prevents you from doing anything where you could betray your partners."

"I think the ones you are looking for are the betrothal and marriage bonding rituals. The betrothal ones still allow the partners to separate at a later date if you find you can't be together in the long run, but I think the Ministry would force a separation if you tried that one. The marriage bond one is permanent, and there is nothing that I know of that can break that one."

"However, remember that magic is all about intent. The marriage bond ritual requires both partners to have a sincere wish, even demand, to be loyal to each other and create a permanent marriage. No extracurricular affairs, and no divorces."

He grimaced a bit, and Cho Chang smiled and said, "Obviously, from the way you all are speaking, there are some downsides to this one. Can you please explain?"

The short professor nodded. "I understand that, in order to get around the Ministry's stupidity, you are all looking for something very permanent but not every attempt at these rituals works. Sometimes, perhaps because the participants are not really prepared for a life-long commitment or they don't really like the other person enough, the bond doesn't form. Given the nature of the ritual, that could be very embarrassing.

Hannah Abbott asked, "How would it be embarrassing?"

Flitwick glanced at his colleagues, who were trying to stifle their smiles. "Well, first, the ritual must be performed inside a circle of runes – very advanced runes, which is one of the reasons why Professor Babbling is here. She will help the more advanced students who have been taking ancient runes, to draw the circle. If there are enough who want to do this, perhaps multiple circles so more people can go through it at the same time. Second, the ritual is performed nude."

Some of the students gasped. Some realized that, if there were multiple circles, all in the Room Of Requirement, they would be able to see each other.

Flitwick continued. "Third, the two wanting to bond have to speak the ritual words while having sexual intercourse."

More gasps.

The professor added "And fourth, the ritual must be witnessed by at least three others, to confirm that the bond has formed. It is said that the couple often do not even notice whether the bonding aura of light has formed or not. They often seem somewhat distracted."

Tracy Davis asked "Can't the ritual be performed in private, without anybody watching?"

At this point, Minerva McGonagall started to giggle, something that none of the students had ever seen. She said through her laughter, "If it could be done in private, without the rune circle, about a third of sixth year students and two-thirds of the seventh years would have bonded And that hasn't happened."

Susan Bones asked, "About how many who try this actually bond?"

McGonagall spoke. "According to the school's records, in the last two centuries, only about 10 couples a year try it, and most achieve the desired bond. Most seem to be from Ravenclaw who do the research to find the ritual in the first place, because they really want to bond. Sometimes, it would be to get away from families who are pushing spouses who are not desirable to the couple. In previous centuries, when most marriages were arranged between aristocratic families, or for more lower or middle-class families, very few bothered with it, because life expectancies were shorter and people married younger."

"Anyway, that's the situation, and in our opinion your best chance at getting out from under the Ministry's thumb." Looking over to Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, she continued, "some of you may have suspicions that there are nefarious purposes behind their actions, so I suggest you take a bit of time to consider your options. As Miss Weasley pointed out, if you go this route, you only have about a week to successfully perform the ritual – some may want to try a couple times, or to try with different partners if it doesn't work at first. That may depend on how desperate you are!"

"Please remember, this bond is for life. No do-overs, no divorces, no on-the-side romances. The Ministry marriages may or may not allow for divorces, or perhaps homicide might be more the case, or they may not. Please think hard about this, because I, or rather we, would hate to see you stuck forever with someone you don't like or can't respect. However, given the requirements of the ritual for an honest and sincere desire to bond, I doubt a bond would form under those circumstances. I suggest that we meet here again tomorrow afternoon, and proceed accordingly. Bathsheba and I will start drawing the rune circles, for those who wish to try the ritual. For witnesses, the three of us are willing to serve, or you can choose your own."

Hermione asked, "Are there other bonding rituals other than the one you talked about? This one seems a little extreme, even though it appears to be just what we need. Permanent and unbreakable."

Flitwick glanced at his fellow staff. "There may be others which would suit your needs. Given the time constraints as we only heard of this new law this morning, I only remembered this one. As you can imagine, it was something you would remember. The book Minerva gave you may have some others, and we can supply you with some other texts which have rather restricted access. We will see that Irma, that is Madam Pince, will allow you whatever you think you need."

"Oh, one other thing. As the Headmaster implied, the Ministry documents you will all receive are likely to have powerful compulsion charms on them, so be careful in handling them if you are not bonded by the time they arrive."

Hermione turned to the group. "Okay folks, it's research time!"

**Chapter 3: The Bride**

After the SP and DA meeting, the upper year Ravenclaw girls (young women) gathered in the 7th year girls dorm, to discuss what they had heard, and later discovered. As in every girls' dorm room, there had previously been a lot of banter about who they were dating, who they wanted to date, or even (as they called it) do the 'horizontal hula' with. From what they found out about the new law, this talk had now become much more serious.

Megan MacGregor thought there were a couple of boys at Hogwarts she wouldn't mind bonking, and there were a few back home as well. Unfortunately, she didn't care for any of them enough to sincerely want to spend the rest of her life with any of them. Besides, the ones at home were all muggles, and she couldn't imagine being able to convince any of them to bond with her in time, nor how she would be able to get them into the castle.

Cho Chang and Morag MacDougal were there from the sixth-year girls, who were of sufficient age to fall under the parameters of the old-new marriage law. Although Luna Lovegood was still a fifth-year witch, as a pivotal member of the DA and one of the Ministry Six, she was included in the discussions. All of the seventh year Ravenclaw witches were there as well, as they were all of age given the age requirement for attending Hogwarts in the first place (and the school not allowing for skipping a grade as muggle schools did).

Many of the Ravenclaw boys were there as well, although some of them felt that they were less at risk than the girls. There seemed to be fewer pure-blood girls at Hogwarts. Megan pointed out that, due to the recent battles by the Death Eaters, there might be quite a number of young-ish widows looking for new husbands.

Besides being housemates, four of the witches had another common bond, in that their families were all connected to the muggle military. Nancy Whittall's father was a muggle-born wizard who left the wizarding world and joined the Royal Marines, while Morag MacDougal, Megan MacGregor and Fiona Campbell all had family in highland regiments. Several of Morag and Megan's families were in the 42nd (the Black Watch, aka the 'Ladies from Hell' due to their practice of wearing kilts in battles), while Fiona's uncle and two brothers were in the Argyles. However, all being magical, they served as liaisons to an inter-regimental group of magic-aware military personnel subject to the Statue of Secrecy as well as the Official Secrets Act. This group, because of their close ties to the 42nd, their nebulous identity, and their tendencies to get involved in covert operations, was unofficially known as the Grey Watch. The girls knew of the Greys, although only those of military families really knew the nature of the group or their activities, and even fewer knew of exactly what activities they performed.

The Ravenclaws were furious that a group of unelected aristocrats felt they had the right to dictate the lives of those they considered lesser beings. In the military, at least since the disasters of the Crimean War, the idea of aristocrats buying their ranks and commands had fallen far out of favour. In the modern forces, people had to personally earn their rank, and be qualified to command.

Megan MacGregor looked around the room, and said "I think we're going to need to get as much information as we can on the cretins we are likely going to be forced to marry! How many of us are animagi? Besides me."

Four girls and three boys held up their hands. Being in the 'smart' house, after Professor McGonagall had showed them her transformation in the first Transfiguration class, quite a few had looked up the spells involved and tried them out. All those who succeeded had held up their hands.

Megan nodded, and said "Let's see which ones would be best for some covert surveillance."

The students shifted into their forms. Megan herself became a large black rook, Michael Clearwater became a small starling, and others became cats, dogs, one fox and a flying fox bat. The rather shy sixth-year Helsa (great-grand daughter of the famous Mary Poppins, Hufflepuff class of 1900) changed into a magnificent mountain lion (rather rare in the British Isles), while Luna changed into a Blue Morpho butterfly. The group all nodded in appreciation for this difficult bit of magic.

Megan smiled at the younger blonde and said "Thank you Luna, but I don't think your form will work for this." At the young witch's grimace of disappointment, the older girl added kindly "Your butterfly is gorgeous. You're a real beauty, but seeing a large pretty butterfly in Scotland in November may be a bit too conspicuous. Besides, butterflies are cold-blooded, and November is rather chilly. Would you like to come out flying with me, come summer?" The blonde nodded and smiled.

Th older girl nodded back. "Great, let's do that. Okay, let's do some surveilling of the ones we think most likely to be selected to be our lords and masters, or ladies, as the case may be. I think we may need some help. Please give me a couple minutes."

She went down to Professor Flitwick's office, and asked to use his floo for a personal call. With his approval, and departure to allow some privacy, she tossed some dust into the floo and called out "Gregorach Hall".

A feminine voice responded "The Hall. Who is this please?"

Megan answered, "Hello Marjory, it's Lady Megan. May I speak to The MacGregor, please, if he is available."

The woman at the other end said "One moment please. I will see if the Brigadier is otherwise engaged", which was followed shortly by a deep and authoritative male voice calling out "Megs, to what do I owe the pleasure of a call from my favourite daughter? I would prefer to gather that this is a personal call, but calling me at the office during office hours implies that it is somewhat serious. Also, your use of my Clan title would seem to mean it affects more than just you and me."

Megan responded, "Well, sort of, papa. We have a situation in the magical part of our world which affects a number of our own family and some of our clan allies, and I was hoping to get some advice, and perhaps a bit of help from Colonel Grey", using the phrase indicating that she was asking for help from the Grey Watch.

Her father audibly grimaced. "Colonel Grey? I will have to ask. When did you wish to speak with 'him'?"

Megan mentally nodded. "I think I should like to have a chat this weekend, if possible, to explain the situation we find ourselves in, and then perhaps next weekend after the Remembrance Ceremony to consider our options. I will be coming home for the parade and wreaths."

There was a pause, and then her father said, "I will check. I can make no promises, but I will check. I gather it is quite serious."

The girl answered, "I'm afraid so. The idiots down in London have passed a law forcing all witches and wizards to marry and have children, and they will be selecting a quote suitable unquote mate for us. Given their standard behaviour, a lot of us are not pleased with this development, as you can imagine. We just got through the little civil war, and they're at it again. I fear we may have to take some appropriate action to make sure the lessons stick this time."

The man asked, "I gather this does not just affect you and your classmates."

The girl answered "No, it applies to all magical folk between 16 and 60, even some of our teachers. Even those who are already married will be required to have more children. They say it is to replenish the population lost in the recent wars. Of course, they aren't admitting that most of the losses were either Voldemort's crew, which they supported behind the scenes, or caused by them."

"And who gets to make the choices of who you are to marry?"

Megan scowled, "It will be done by a select group approved or appointed by the Wizengamot. You can imagine how that is going to work out. So no halfers or muggle-bornes will be consulted."

Her father nodded to himself, considering her words, and said, "So the old fossils are instituting wholesale sexual slavery to their own benefit. That's against both British and International law, although I can't see getting much progress legally, as the ones benefitting are the same ones who would sit in judgement. Bloody wizarding court system. Okay, I'll see what I can do. Can we speak tomorrow around noon?"

Megan thanked him, and disconnected. On her way out of her Head's office, she thanked him. He looked at her, and said, "I overheard some of what you said, not intentionally mind you, but I heard. If there is any way I can assist, please let me know. What they are doing must not be tolerated."

Megan paused. "Professor, is there some method of handling magical documents but would avoid any spells that may have been attached, like portkeys or such?"

Flitwick smiled broadly. "You mean, you don't trust official documents coming from the Ministry? How odd! How unexpected!" After she laughed with him, he then stopped smiling. "I'll show you and the others a few charms and spells to handle suspect documents. They may be useful if you chose to get into curse-breaking as a career. Also, cold steel does not conduct magic, so you could use a knife and fork, or metal chopsticks like they use in Korea, to manipulate the parchments. You could use dragon-hide gloves, but those are expensive and hard to come by, not to mention that there recently has been a ban on selling them in Britain – strange that."

He smiled again. "You bring up an excellent point. If you and your housemates are still meeting, I'll come up and demonstrate the spells. I will also show them to the rest of your little research group."

**Chapter 4: The Groom (?) and the Cast-off**

The one word that expressed Draco's relationship with the world was 'contempt'. Other than his family, mostly his father, and the recently deceased Dark Lord, Draco had utter contempt for the rest of humanity. He saw the rest of the purebloods, including his two supposedly best friends who were actually assigned to him as bodyguards by their families in a quest to curry favour, as potential slaves, and the half-bloods and muggle-bornes as a waste of air to be exterminated as soon as practical.

Actual muggles were something to be erased from the Earth once he had the opportunity (such as when he became the favourite of the Dark Lord, displacing his father). The fact that the muggles outnumbered magicals by about ten-thousand to one, and were extremely skilled at mass murder (either in wars on a wholesale level, or more on an individual more 'retail' level). The idea that muggles had access to easily-obtained weapons that could kill at distances beyond wand range were outside his comprehension.

For most of the rest of the people who knew him, he was slime akin to what you might find on your shoes after crossing a well-used pasture. For those in Slytherin house, he was feared but definitely not liked.

Knowing that he was the epitome of existence led to him talking about his plans and ambitions where others could hear. In fact, in his opinion, anyone hearing him detail how he was going to rule the world would just show them how important he really was.

As his father had now managed to 'convince' the Wizengamot (and his puppet Fudge, in spite of him having personally seen Lucius there wearing his Death Eater garb and fighting for the Dark Lord) that he was innocent of being a willing Death Eater, Draco 'knew' he was immune to any consequences for his own actions and could get away with anything up to and including murder (just as his father had).

It was the Sunday after the announcement of the newly enacted law, and Draco was walking through the castle grounds 'chatting' (that is, pontificating) with his two 'friends' (aka, assigned bodyguards) about his coming wedding plans.

Vincent Crabbe looked puzzled (a frequent occurrence). "What do you mean, wedding plans. You're betrothed to Pansy Parkinson. That's a magical contract. You can't get out of that. At least, not unless both parties agree."

Draco smiled. "My father is proposing a law in the Wizengamot, to allow either party to unilaterally void a betrothal contract. And I'm doing it. At the fiasco at the Ministry, old man Parkinson was killed, so Pansy has nothing I want. Her brother gets the whole estate, and she gets nothing. My father is going to write the new law so I won't even have to give back her dowry! With the new law, my father is making sure I get paired with a rich half-blood, and that in any marriage, the pure-blood partner has complete control of everything."

Vince Crabbe came up with what, for him, was a brilliant wordplay. "You mean, Pansy is going to become a destitute?" The boys laughed. The fact that Pansy had been a friend and supporter of all of them for years mattered little for Goyle and Crabbe, and nothing at all to Malfoy.

"There is a girl in Ravenclaw, whose family has a lot of land and money. They're Scottish, and the dumb Scottish laws allow girls to inherit. Apparently, her family belongs to a big muggle organization where the men walk around in dresses, and think they're important. Stupid muggles! My father is going to talk to a number of his old friends, and arrange that she would be the only one around to inherit once we're married. Once that happens, I fear she might come down with one of those muggle diseases that they can't cure."

"Once she's gone, and I inherit all the property and money, I can get a real pure-blood wife, who will know her place."

Greg Goyle shook his head. "I don't think it's that easy to get out of a betrothal contact. My big brother had one, and tried to get out of it, and couldn't. Not without the family losing about half of what we own!"

Draco shook his head and smiled. "Your family had bad solicitors, and didn't have the connections my father has. Parkinson is going to find out that the contract isn't worth the parchment it's written on!"

Goyle did something he never thought possible. He disagreed with Malfoy. "My father and his solicitors told the family that it was a matter of a magic oath, not the contract itself. They said that you can't break a magical oath"

Malfoy laughed at his. "That's a load of elf-crap. My father says so." To Draco's mind, that was the be-all and end-all to any argument. "Now, next week after I consummate my marriage to the half-blood muggle-lover, do you guys want to join my father and me in a muggle-hunt?"

He laughed, and the others laughed, although their laughter was not as enthusiastic as Draco's. His insistence that he and his father could get around a law enforced by magic, just by declaring it so or having their bought-and-paid-for toadies say so, seemed far-fetched even for Draco.

None of the boys noticed the birds sitting in the nearby trees. A group of rooks squawked at each other, and a couple of the smaller birds chirped to each other, and then flew off. None of the boys noticed that two of the birds flew over to the Hogwarts castle, circled a couple towers (to throw off any interested spectators, and then flew in a window on the Ravenclaw dormitories.

The floo in Flitwick's office had some additional traffic that evening. 'Colonel Grey' was informed that there was a plan afoot which involved lethal threats to the families and the regiments.

A couple days later, Pansy Parkinson approached Hermione Granger. "Granger, I need to talk to you!"

Hermione looked at the Slytherin girl and responded, "And why on earth do I need to talk to you? Or did you mean you needed to talk _with_ me? Either way, why on earth should I give a rat's ass what you want?"

Pansy was about to respond to this, but realized it was unwise to burn the bridge before you crossed it, and for all that it went against everything she had been brought up to believe, she was desperate.

The Slytherin girl started to tear up. "Draco dumped me, in spite of having a binding betrothal agreement. Now they are going to make me marry a mudblood or worse. I've lost everything!" She stated to openly cry. "I have watched you and your bunch, and you all seemed really worried last Friday, but now you look like you found a solution to this whole mess. I need help!"

Hermione looked at Pansy with a combination of pity and disgust. "Parkinson, you have been treating me like shit for five years now, calling me names and worse, and last year you were even in the Inquisitors' Squad who were torturing students for that bitch Umbridge. As I see it, you deserve all the crap they can pile on you and I wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire. If they forced you to marry a muggle-born, or even better, if you were forced to marry a squib, it would serve you right, but in the end you might learn something about the real world. But given the level of intelligence and lack of common sense you and the other pure-bloods in this castle have shown, I would doubt it."

"However, in this case, I can give you a hint – talk to your family lawyers. I'm not doing this to help you. I am doing this to feed Malfoy to the sharks! You see, a betrothal contract is a magically binding one, and just because the Wizengamot, in their infinite arrogance, feel they can just overrule magic itself doesn't make it so. I and my bunch, as you call us, have done a bit of digging, and the Malfoys and the rest of the superannuated fossils are going to find that they are going to pay dearly for their stupidity. So, you're okay on that front."

"By the way, there is a ritual you can do to escape the law. You need to find someone who is willing to have sex with you in a ritual circle, with witnesses watching while you recite the spells, and both of you need to have a sincere desire to spend the rest of your lives together or it doesn't work. Good luck with that."

"Other than that, bugger off!"

Turning to Harry, who was sitting next to her smirking, she said, "That felt good. Really good"

The next day, Pansy Parkinson did floo call to her family's solicitor, Miss Terry Persons. She fully expected Solicitor Persons to tell her to take a hike as well, being she assumed that she was now broke and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.

Her future brightened significantly when she was advised by the solicitor that word had come through from Lucius Malfoy that he wanted the betrothal contract voided, and the lawyer advised him that she was familiar with contracts and inheritances, and since the battle at the ministry, there had been a lot of discussion in chambers about inheritances. As the goblins were the final arbitrators for both contracts and inheritances, she had consulted them as well. She recommended Malfoy consult his own solicitor, as the information she gathered was privileged and for the Parkinson heir alone.

Miss Persons commented the she was continually amazed that wizards considered themselves the winners of the last three so-called goblin rebellions, which ended with the goblins in perpetual charge of the entire financial basis of wizarding society. She said it was like putting the best wards you could buy on your property and then handing out your house keys to everyone in Diagon Alley on a Saturday night. At least the goblins weren't likely to break in and steal all your stuff, but if they decided it, you could be skint in the blink of an eye.

The goblins informed Miss Persons that bribery was considered a normal practice in business, but theft was a matter of grave concern (and the term grave was significant as to how those, who attempted to steal from goblins, were dealt with). Oath-backed contracts were also very serious matters, as they were enforced by the very essence of both goblin and human magic.

Pansy learned that the goblins had long ago learned to not pay much attention to what Draco Malfoy said to anyone, as his assumed self-importance was in stark contrast to reality as they saw it. However, as soon as Draco took unmistakable action to void the betrothal contract, such as showing up for a wedding ceremony without his betrothed partner, that would break the contract and invoke the penalty clauses which were inherent to such a document – the penalties were seldom stated in the contract itself, but were documented in treaties and family grimoires going back to times before the Roman invasions.

Should Draco actually try to go ahead with a marriage in violation to the oaths that he and his father had sworn, she would now be the primary heir to the Malfoy fortune, and if nothing else, Pansy had an iron-clad claim (enforced by an iron-clad goblin warrior) to half the Malfoy estate.

On more immediate concern to Pansy was that the Malfoy demand to retain her dowry when breaking the contract was seen by the goblins as grand larceny. As such, the penalty to the Malfoys was to return not only her dowry, but an additional ten times that amount as recompense. In addition, those members of the Wizengamot who had been bribed to vote to permit the breaking of the contract and retention of the dowry were seen as willing accomplices (in legal terms, accessories before the fact) to the theft, and their vaults would be penalized by ten times the amount of the bribe, plus twice the amount of the dowry. Those who had voted to allow the theft, but had not been bribed to do so would only be charged five times the dowry as a penalty for just being stupid and failing in their sworn fiduciary duty to citizens. To the goblins, a Stupidity Tax was an entirely justified bookkeeping item, as human stupidity costs everyone time and money.

As there had been more than 40 Wizengamot members who voted for the breaking of the contract, this was going to provide a very sizable deposit into her personal vault, should Draco go ahead with his 'plan'.

Pansy asked if this draw on the vaults of the Wizengamot would not be seen by the goblins as theft as well. Solicitor Persons laughed, and let her know that she had been informed that the rules against complicity with theft were clearly detailed in the contracts for the vaults that the original customer had signed with Gringotts (in some families, centuries ago), and if the customer or their descendants had not bothered to read the entire contract, the goblins felt that any of their subsequent problems were self-inflicted. More stupidity tax due. According to Solicitor Persons, the Gringotts contract manager she spoke to had said "If they aren't concerning with losing their knuts, we don't have a problem with it."

In additional, the Ministry's claim that the head of the Parkinson family had been a Death Eater, and so the Ministry should be able to confiscate the estate, was another load of rubbish. Cornelius Fudge's declaration that they (or rather he) could seize the estates of citizens without a trial and conviction (particularly as he had been refusing to accept the existence of the Dark Lord and his followers for years), was also seen as attempted theft. The estate would still belong to Pansy and her brother, as well as a penalty still being worked out by the goblins, but it was unlikely to please Fudge in the least.

As Pansy's dowry had been 10 thousand galleons, her financial situation was going to be rosier than it had been before the Malfoys malfeance. However, she was still likely cast out from her planned future as Draco's wife, and she would be forever tainted by her previous relationship. She could only hope that the Ministry's selection of a mate would pair her with someone she would not despise.

Any 'price' for the repudiation of the oath itself would be left for magic itself to assess and collect.

**Chapter 5: Delivery Day and Re-evaluation**

On the morning of November 12th, a flurry of owls descended into the Great Hall, all bearing scrolls of parchment emblazoned with the crest of the Ministry of Magic of the United Kingdom. Each owl flew to a specific person within the hall, and landed. Headmaster Dumbledore stood and announce the classes would be cancelled that day, to allow those affected to meet with their selected partners and start to make their necessary arrangements.

Thirty-six students, and one teacher, looked at 'their' owls and gestured towards the plates of bacon, ham and owl treats, then pulled out their manicure scissors, nail clippers or other steel tools and clipped the cord tying the scroll to the leg of the owl before them. As a group, they levitated the scrolls to a central location in front of the head table, and jointly cast 'Incendio!" on the pile of documents.

These actions were met with cries of fury and looks of shock from a number of students at the Slytherin table, as they realized that their ideas of complete supremacy over all of magical kind were rubbish. Clever people had found a way to avoid their (and their parents) attempts to once more seize control.

Headmaster Dumbledore looked shocked at this blatant rejection of the implementation of the Ministry's new law, even if he had regarded it as a massive travesty and fundamental blunder on the part of the Wizengamot. The fact that those involved in the conflagration all seemed to be smiling indicated to him that they had found a way around the Ministry's choosing of their spouses (and also implied that there was going to be a serious need for a maternity ward in the hospital wing and a number of re-activated married quarters (not used for many years since teenage marriages had fallen out of practice). They may have married or bonded to someone of their own choice, but the law's clauses concerning procreation would still be in effect.

As he looked over the hall, he noticed that a large number of the students were unrolling the scrolls using their knives and forks, and not their hands. He realized that someone had informed them of the likelihood of spells on the documents, and the use of steel implements to prevent being bound to said spells.

Upon reading the scrolls, there was a lot of whispering between smaller groups of friends, occasionally accompanied by simulated gagging and laughter. When some read the signature at the bottom of the scroll, giggling became widespread. Charms Master Rittenoff had signed, using his given name and middle initial, and Igo Tobias was a rather unfortunate name to bequeath to any child.

At some tables, those who had not incinerated their scrolls were looking over the documents. In some cases, there were cries of despair, while others were just grimly nodded. There were one or two actively vomiting.

Draco Malfoy strutted over to the Ravenclaw table, and tapped Megan on the shoulder. He declared "You belong to me now, so you will need to learn to behave properly!" Megan looked at him, and in a strong false accent said, "Meh, Lard." He assumed she had responded with 'My Lord' as was in his mind his due, spoken in a lower-class accent as was entirely appropriate given her insignificant status, and proudly returned to his place. Megan turned to the others at her table and whispered, "Definitely Plan B then."

There was laughter coming from the head table, when Bathsheba Babbling whispered (rather loudly) "Thank Merlin they didn't pair me up with one of the current students." Smiling, she added "Not that it is relevant anymore."

Seamus Finnigan, who was sitting beside Neville Longbottom, unrolled his scroll, and exclaimed "They bastards want me to marry Millicent Bulstrode! Are they crazy?" Neville turned to his dormmate and said, "What's your problem. Millie is a really nice girl."

Seamus looked at Neville as if he was out of his mind. "How can you say that? She's a Slytherin and she hangs around with Malfoy's hangers-on all the time. On top of that, she's huge!" Neville responded "Look Seamus, I've worked with her in the Gardeners Club doing herbology, and she was always a very lonely girl, being heavy and a head taller than everyone else. You know the phrase 'To get along, go along'? With Malfoy in ruthless charge of his year in their House, she had to either hang with the others in her year or be by herself all the time. When she is away from them, she's nice, and a bit timid. She was always made ashamed of her size, but in recent years with all the stairs in this place, she has trimmed down – when she is out of the baggy robes they make us wear, except in the greenhouse, she has a really smashing figure. Come on, I'll introduce you."

After Seamus and Neville went over to a corner, and Millicent joined them away from the Slytherin table, Neville introduced them. Millicent looked down from her more than 2 metres height, and said to Neville, "Look Nev, I can put up with a Gryffindor, but an Irishman? I really don't think so!" As Seamus turned a bit red, Neville and Millicent smirked and started laughing. After a moment when he realized he had just been had, Seamus joined them. He and Millicent began talking, and Neville returned to his table.

Millicent looked down at Seamus, and remarked "I guess this is when I am supposed to, as they say, clasp you to my bosom." Seamus looked up at her, looked slightly down from eye level to her ample bosom, looked back up at her smiling face, and answered, "Works for me!" Very few anywhere near Hogwarts had ever seen Millicent Bulstrode double over in laughter.

There was then a shout of joy at the Gryffindors' table and a shriek from Hufflepuff, and Neville and Hannah Abbott jumped up and raced to embrace each other. The group who had been in the 'bonding bunch' were puzzled, because the two had not managed to bond during the ritual. Neville and Hannah were also puzzled but very pleased as well. Neville said "Maybe we didn't like being forced to try it", while Hannah replied "Maybe we were just not ready then, or maybe we didn't like having an audience. How about we try 'the process' now, but without the audience?" As Neville responded "Great idea!", they kissed and left the great hall in a great hurry.

Pansy Parkinson unrolled her parchment to see who she had been 'paired' with. To her great surprise, the 'intended' was listed as Harry Potter. She wondered why she had been 'paired' with the wizard that most of Slytherin hated. Then she thought further. Most of Slytherin really didn't care much about Potter; it was Draco Malfoy and his entourage who despised the Gryffindor, because Potter had never given Draco the respect he thought was his birthright. She had been part of the entourage, until Draco had dumped her. Perhaps those making the selections had given her Potter as compensation after Draco's betrayal, or as a reward for her family's loyalty to 'the cause'.

So did she really hate Potter, or was she just going with the flow? After all, he was a talented flyer, who kept beating Draco at quidditch (which just further enraged the blonde ponce), he was magically powerful and rumour was that his family had been rich and left him lots of galleons. He wasn't bad looking either, other than his unmanageable hair. Right now, Draco's opinions were mattering less and less to her.

Her problem was now that Potter had been one of the students who had just incinerated his scroll unread. So her being matched with him was now moot.

As she sat there thinking that she would have to go to the Ministry and beg for a new selection, a voice beside her asked "May I sit with you?"

She looked up at the tall Slytherin (seventh year, she thought to herself) and nodded, having not much option or desire to argue. As he sat, he pointed to his chest and said "Penny." She angrily barked, "My name is Pansy!". He smiled and said softly, "I know. I meant, my name is Penny. Pendrake Morris at your service. I need to tell you that almost all of our House thinks what Malfoy did was despicable. He treated you with immense disrespect, and that is not what true Slytherins do! If it wasn't for fear of his father and his Death Eater cronies, we would have beat the shit out of Draco years ago. On behalf of our entire house, I want to apologize. If we can help in any way, you have but to ask." Pansy smiled, and shook his hand as he rose to leave.

Malfoy looked at the exchange, and fumed. This showed great disrespect to him and his father, and that was intolerable. The fact that it happened at all indicated that his position and control of Slytherin House had slipped badly. And that was also intolerable.

Someone else in the hall also thought the situation intolerable. Severus Snape, 36 years old, sat staring at the scroll that lay in front of him at the head table, trying to wish it away.

**Chapter 6: The Wedding Day**

In the week preceding the November 16th date, set for the forced weddings, some experimentation by a little-known group had found that if a portkey was wrapped around an inanimate object, the package would travel to the designated destination. A timed portkey or one activated by a wand tap would work just as well. A portkey preset to a specific time would activate the same as it would if held by the person it was supposed to transport.

After the results of the testing proved successful, a number of strange contraptions appeared in several of the dorm-rooms of those who had been assigned partners that they really did not want to marry. Small round objects were held in clamps mounted on stands, wrapped in the timed portkeys; the clamps allowed the safety pins to be pulled out without activating the triggers. Borrowed dragon hide gloves made the handling of the items safer.

On the morning of the 16th, a group of pure-blood aristocrats gathered at the entertainment facility next to the Ministry building. They were to attend three weddings which were to take place later that morning. Draco Malfoy's wedding had been scheduled first of all those dictated by the Ministry, as was appropriate given the status of his family (as primary bribers of those setting the schedule).

The facility had the Black family slogan of 'Toujours Pur!" posted above the entrance, although the casino wing was generally known (in the practice similar to a city in Nevada being called 'Lost Wages') as 'Toujours Poor'. In the back was a brothel run by and mostly for the upper-crust males, and catered to all tastes and proclivities; with magic, most injuries could be completely cured in moments. However, in the front was a 24-hour-a-day nightclub serving the best of food and drink, and it was here that the group had assembled.

Narcissa Malfoy had stayed home at the Manor, preparing for the grand party to be held that evening. Gregory Goyle's mother, Sheezmy, was assisting at directing the elves to lay out a massive spread of food and drink, casting spells to keep everything fresh. After all, you wouldn't want the caviar to go bad just because the sturgeon died before it was served.

Greg's father Gar (actually Garfield, but nobody ever used his full name) sat with Lucius Malfoy, and Vincent Crabbe's parents. Vince's mother Snow had come from the German wizarding family Weiss, who had been made famous years before by the Grimm brothers, and been named for her eight-times great grandmother. He husband, King, was toasting the coming nuptials of their sons.

The group was sitting in a sheltered alcove in a more dimly lit section of the restaurant, which is why none of the wait-staff noticed when all four of them leaned down over their table (into their appetizers) and ceased moving. By the time the bodies were discovered a half hour later, the dry-ice daggers had sublimed away, and the neurotoxins had done their work. Lucius had not lived to feel his magic leave his body when Draco used his portkey to travel to the marriage chapel at the Ministry.

As he arrived, Draco looked around the room which was decorated for his wedding (according to the strict directions his father had provided the Ministry). Besides Master Rittenoff, there was an honour guard of two Aurors. He recognized the sympathizer John Dawlish and another senior auror, to whom he had not been introduced before. As he looked at the woman suspiciously, she nodded and rolled up her left sleeve, proudly showing her Dark Mark. Draco smiled at her in response, acknowledging her loyalties to their joint purposes.

He stumbled as magic exacted the price for breaking his oaths of fidelity inherent in the betrothal contract. Feeling like he had been attacked, he drew his wand and cast a spell to reveal any hidden persons. There was absolutely no effect, and his wand might as well have been a dead piece of wood. He began to panic. This was not supposed to happen to him.

At that moment, instead of the woman he was to marry and subsequently murder, a piece of parchment wrapped around a metal globe appeared in the air in front of the assembled group, and a small metal flange sprang away from it. Two seconds later, the Mark 5 hand grenade exploded, killing the four people in the room, and destroying most of the room.

Fifteen minutes later, Gregory Goyle portkeyed into the room, and promptly threw up at the sight of the gory mess. His arrival was followed a moment later by a second grenade. A quarter hour later, the same scene was replayed with Vincent Crabbe as the star attraction.

In the Ravenclaw sixth-year girls' dorm, three young women smiled as the last of the packages disappeared from the stands they had erected to support the grenades at head level, with the safety pins extracted, to provide sufficient time for the firing spoon to depart the instant when it arrived wherever, and deliver its payload.

Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge heard the muffled sound of the explosions and rushed, with his wand in hand, to the marriage chapel to see what the problem was. From the investigation that followed, it was determined that he had tripped and fallen on his wand, which had somehow stabbed him in the throat. Somehow, the small puncture wound on the back of his neck was missed, possibly due to the overlapping exit wound caused by his wand.

Many of the Wizengamot members who had voted for the new law allowing Draco to void the betrothal contract found themselves unable to use their floo systems, and cast any spells. Those who had not accepted bribes to cast their votes found that they still had their entire portfolios at Gringotts, but had no way of accessing Diagon Alley or Gringotts itself. The others found themselves impoverished, as well as magically impotent.

The next day, a sign was posted outside the muggle-side entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. It read:

To those unable to access the Diagon Alley branch of Gringotts Bank, we

suggest presenting your identification credentials to one of the following

banks (followed by a list of muggle-run banks affiliated with Gringotts).

To those who voted in favour of the attempt of grand larceny put forward

by Lucius Malfoy and friends, your accounts have been docked in accord

with goblin law, as per your vault-engagement contracts. Those whose

accounts were not sufficient of themselves to cover the penalties are

advised that any future wages and/or acquisitions will be garnisheed

appropriately until the penalties are paid off. If preferred, Gringotts will

accept service in one of our branches for an appropriate period.

The notice was signed by the directors of Gringotts London

As the spellcaster of the compulsion charms was no longer among the living, several of the students at Hogwarts with unacceptable partners selected for them threw their portkeys into the refuse containers around the castle. Some attached the portkeys to bits of detritus, or in one case a very large bag of thestral dung. At the scheduled times, these items disappeared for the castle, to the consternation of those on the receiving end of the transfer at the Ministry.

Over the next few days, a number of the 'upstanding' members of wizarding society were no longer up-standing, as they were laying down permanently.

Megan MacGregor floo-called her father later on the Sunday following day, to say hi and to ask him to pass on the thanks of herself and several others to 'Colonel Grey'. Her father smilingly responded, "Now Megan, you know I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. And by the way, you can keep the gloves. You may need them again – who knows what those idiots at the Ministry will get up to next."

On the following Monday, a general notice was sent to Hogwarts by the Ministry, postponing all the arranged marriages until a qualified officiant could be selected. It was stated that this might take some time to arrange.

**A/N**: This story was inspired, in part, by the story listed above, but also from some stories I read years ago in Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact Magazine. One of them was _Swiss Movement_ by Eric Vinicoff and Marcia Martin (Analog June 1975). In this story, it is discovered that the Swiss have maintained their independence through the practice of universal (almost, being male only) military service, where they are taught to be spies and assassins. Threats are either eliminated or misdirected.

The other story I remembered was _Mission of Ignorance_ by Christopher Anvil (Analog October 1968). In this story, a junior officer is sent as an emissary to a meeting with extraterrestrials, who appear to be friendly, but are actually looking to conquer Earth. They also seem to have access to telepathic equipment, so the better informed the earth ambassador, the worse for the earth side of the negotiations. He is given written information that the earthlings have rejected the 'gifts' of the ETs, and have dug in and are armed to the teeth. Other than this, he is ignorant of the political realities, and not informed about his real function until after the ETs depart.

The gist is that, when a predator is confronted with prey who are secretive, armed to the teeth, and prepared to fight to the death, a smart predator goes elsewhere. Stupid ones, particularly those who consider themselves superior in every way, stick around.


End file.
